AT&T Allows Apple’s Facetime over Cellular

So the last carrier to prohibit Apple’s Facetime videoconferencing software over its network has fallen: Yes, if you’re an AT&T subscriber with a iDevice, you can finally Facetime over your cellular connection, provided you’re not on a grandfathered data plan. AT&T’s Jim Cicconi posted on the official public policy blog explaining why AT&T finally made the decision, and why they’ve left people not on shared data plans off:

We decided to take this cautious approach for important reasons.  AT&T has by far more iPhones on our network than any other carrier. We’re proud of this fact and the confidence our customers have in us. But it also means that when Apple rolls out new services or changes, as it did in iOS 6, it can have a much greater, and more immediate, impact on AT&T’s network than is the case with carriers who have far fewer iPhone users.

 So basically he’s saying that AT&T execs feared that its network wasn’t durable enough to withstand the onslaught of a feature that every modern smartphone comes with (videoconferencing via a front-facing camera.) Not a huge surprise. If you’re on a tiered LTE plan, you’ll be able to Facetime on the go soon, but for anybody still clinging to unlimited data, you might as well hang on to your iPhone 3GS, because you’re not going to get cellular Facetime anytime soon.
Read AT&T’s complete statement here.

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